1 Run for your lives,people of Benjamin.Get out of Jerusalem.Sound a trumpet in Tekoaand light a signal firein Beth-Haccherem.Soon you will be struckby disaster from the north.
2 Jerusalem is a lovely pasture,
3 but shepherds will surround itand divided up,then let their flockseat all the grass.
4 Kings will tell their troops,“If we reach Jerusalemin the morning,we'll attack at noon.But if we arrive later,
5 we'll attack after darkand destroy its fortresses.”
6 I am the Lord All-Powerful,and I will command these armiesto chop down treesand build a ramp up to the wallsof Jerusalem.People of Jerusalem,I must punish youfor your injustice.
7 Evil pours from your citylike water from a spring.Sounds of injustice and violenceecho within your walls;victims are everywhere,wounded and dying.
8 Listen to me,you people of Jerusalemand Judah.I will abandon you,and your land will becomean empty desert.
9 I will tell your enemiesto leave your nation barelike a vine stripped of grapes.I, the Lord All-Powerful,have spoken.
10 I have told the peoplethat you, Lord,will punish them,but they just laughand refuse to listen.
11 Your anger against Judahflames up inside me,and I can't hold it inmuch longer.Don't hold back my anger!Let it sweep away everyone—the children at playand all adults,young and old alike.
12 I'll punish the people of Judahand give to otherstheir houses and fields,as well as their wives.I, the Lord, have spoken.
13 Everyone is greedy and dishonest,whether poor or rich.Even the prophets and priestscannot be trusted.
14 All they ever offerto my deeply wounded peopleare empty hopes for peace.
15 They should be ashamedof their disgusting sins,but they don't even blush.And so, when I punish Judah,they will end up on the ground,dead like everyone else.I, the Lord, have spoken.
16 The Lord said:My people, when you stoodat the crossroads,I told you, “Follow the roadyour ancestors took,and you will find peace.”But you refused.
17 I also sent prophetsto warn you of danger,but when they sounded the alarm,you paid no attention.
18 So I tell all nations on earth,“Watch what I will do!
19 My people ignored meand rejected my laws.They planned to do evil,and now the evil they plannedwill happen to them.”
20 People of Judah,you bring me incense from Shebaand spices from distant lands.You offer sacrifices of all kinds.But why bother?I hate these gifts of yours!
21 So I will put stumbling blocksin your path,and everyone will die,including parents and children,neighbors and friends.
22 The Lord said,“Look toward the north,where a powerful nationhas prepared for war.
23 Its well-armed troops are crueland never show mercy.Their galloping horses soundlike ocean wavespounding on the shore.This army will attack you,lovely Jerusalem.”
24 Then the people said,“Just hearing about themmakes us tremble with fear,and we twist and turn in painlike a woman giving birth.”
25 The Lord said,“Don't work in your fieldsor walk along the roads.It's too dangerous.The enemy is well armed
26 and attacks without warning.So mourn, my people, as thoughyour only child had died.Wear clothes made of sackclothand roll in the ash pile.”
27 Jeremiah, test my peopleas though they were metal.
28 And you'll find they are hardlike bronze and iron.They are stubborn rebels,always spreading lies.*
29-30 Silver can be purifiedin a fiery furnace,but my people are too wickedto be made pure,and so I have rejected them.